Defending A.P.’s Mideast Coverage

May 23, 2018

Image

Sheikh Ismaeil Haneiya of Hamas flashed the victory sign on May 15 near the border with Israel in the east of the Gaza Strip. Scores of demonstrators had been killed by Israeli soldiers the day before.CreditCreditMohammed Saber/European Pressphoto Agency, via Shutterstock

To the Editor:

I am the former Associated Press bureau chief in Jerusalem whom Matti Friedman refers to in his May 17 Op-Ed essay, “The Split-Screen Fallacy.”

Without getting into the merits of Mr. Friedman’s arguments about the latest events in Gaza, I take strong issue with his assertion that the Western media in general — and The Associated Press’s Jerusalem bureau in particular — buries unfavorable stories about Hamas.

The A.P. bureau in Jerusalem, during the 2008 Gaza war and other conflicts, has often reported on Hamas’s tactic of hiding behind civilians and has run entire investigations on the “human shield” accusations against Hamas.

In the past, The A.P. has responded forcefully to what it considered unfounded accusations by Mr. Friedman. During the time I served as The A.P.’s bureau chief for Israel and the Palestinian territories, I believe I was successful in making sure that bias or lack of objectivity did not compromise our coverage and that we were able to uphold The A.P.’s world-class standards of journalistic integrity.